The present invention relates to bicycle wheel hubs and more particularly to a bicycle wheel hub configured to be alternatively operated between a fixed drive mode and a freewheel drive mode.
A conventional bicycle rear wheel hub may include two alternatively-operable sprockets on opposite ends of the wheel hub. One sprocket is fixed to the hub sleeve to operate the wheel hub in a fixed drive mode wherein rotation of the pedals in the forward and rearward directions is directly transmitted to forward and rearward rotations of the rear wheel. The other sprocket is operatively connected to a freewheel driver which transmits forward rotation of the pedals to the rear wheel but permits freewheel rotation of the rear wheel while coasting in a freewheel drive mode when not pedaling.
The disadvantage of this configuration is that the bicyclist must remove the rear wheel from the bicycle frame and flip the wheel 180 degrees to alternatively engage only one of the sprockets with a drive chain connected to the pedals. Therefore, there is a need for a device that permits the bicyclist to alternate between the fixed and freewheel drive modes without having to remove the wheel from the bicycle.